Roger's Cancer Free Party

My father in law, Roger, has been fighting Leukemia for the last 6 months.  He has been blessed to be able to come home in between treatments and live a fairly normal life through all of the this.  His body has reacted well in every stage of the treatment.  He truly has been blessed and we know that he was supposed to win this battle. 

Many prayers and fasting have been offered upon his and Marilyn's behalf these past six months.  They have so many dear friends and family that have been so supportive during this trial.  They really helped both Marilyn and Roger through these difficult and stressful times.  It has been neat to see the positive attitude that both Marilyn and Roger have shown these past few months.  They have always been optimistic.

The end of May, Roger was finished with his last chemo treatment.  He was so excited to be home and not have all the drugs and medicine.  Brandon decided to throw him a "cancer free" party on May 25th.  Many friends and family came to eat dinner and show their support to the family.

 It was a fun time and we are thankful that Roger was able to be blessed with this cancer going into remission.  His work is not finished on this Earth and he still has lots of people to impact for the good and he still has thousands of miles to go on his four wheeler!

Moab Pictures

Moab Day #4

Our final morning was spent eating another great breakfast and packing up our condo.  I have to admit that we travel with a group that doesn't really worry about time. I, on the other hand, am on the complete opposite side of the spectrum.  I think there is a happy medium between using the most of your time and being able to relax and enjoy your vacation.  I am on one spectrum and some of the group is on the other spectrum.

Anyway, enough of my rantings.  Needless to say, it took us a while to get out of the condo and then it seemed like we drove forever to get to the sand dunes.  I was getting a little stressed out because I knew we needed to leave at a certain time to get back to our kiddos.  Regardless of all the stressing, we had a nice ride through the sand dunes. 

I don't really know that I love the sand dunes.  They are kind of dangerous because you can't see who is coming up the hill and you don't know what's on the other side of the hill.  Plus, perception is messed up in the sand.  We ended up riding along the red rocks till we couldn't ride anymore. 

We found a little bit of shade and ate lunch there.  We played in the sand for a few minutes on the way back and then called it a day.  It ended up being great and we were able to leave on time. 

Moab Day #3

On Friday morning, we woke up and had a yummy breakfast of eggs, bacon, and french toast. We each took turns cooking breakfast and then we ate dinner at different restaurants each night.  After breakfast, we got loaded up and headed south towards Wilson's Arch.

I was really excited when I saw the Arch.  As a child, we used to drive by this arch almost every summer on our annual trip to Utah.  Mom and Dad would stop and let us walk to the top of the arch.  I always called this the "hole in the rock."  We drove a few miles pass the Arch and then turned off to left and went to the trail head.

This was a really fun ride.  We were in and out of the sand, rock and dirt.  We would be out in the valley and then within a few minutes, we would be up next to the rocks.  This trail had all sorts of different terrain.  We came to a spot where there was a small hole in the rock and the wind had carved out a neat design in the red rock. 

 We came to a place called the Indians bathtub.  There was a ladder that you could climb and it would take you up to a carved out little hole that resembled a large bath tub.  I can imagine that when it does rain, this little area fills up with water.

 It took us a couple of hours to get out to this sight where we overlooked Wilson's Arch.  We were sitting south of the arch on some flat rocky ledges.  This is where we ate lunch and enjoyed the sunshine and view. We spent about an hour here and then we headed back to the trucks. 

Moab Day #2

After waking up and having a tasty omelet and fruit filled breakfast, we headed out to the north end of Moab.  We wound around and around the Colorado river and finally came to the trail head of "Top of the World." This trail was 5 miles up and 5 miles back. It was a little rough and rocky.  Most of the trail was spent riding on the rocks. 

Bryce tried to be manly and go up an incline.  He tried over and over again.  All the men got off their wheelers and placed rocks and coaxed him up this rocky incline.  I like to tease him about it, because he had to try a new path and prove his manhood. But, he broke off part of the bottom of his wheeler while trying to prove his manhood.  And you know what I thought about that!

 We finally made it to the end of the trail and it was such a beautiful sight.  There is a ledge that you can stand on or park your four wheeler on for pictures.  The drop off is crazy.  It makes you sick just looking down  to the bottom of the canyon.  We spent quite a bit of time up there taking pictures and looking our across the canyons. 

We went about half way down to stop and eat lunch.  That's when Nikki and Roger pulled out their guns to show them to each other.  Sheridan pulled out his water gun.  They all they he was clever for bringing his water gun.  After lunch, we headed back to the trucks and trailers.  I enjoyed this ride, though it wore out my arms and wrists and shoulders. 

We drove down the road about 15 minutes and then pulled off to the trail head of Onion Creek.  This is the trail that crosses the creek 24 times.  I really enjoy this ride because it is easy, and I enjoy splashing through the water.  For this trail, they just told everyone to take their own time and meet at the top.  It was 8 miles to the top of this trail. 

Bryce and I cruised along, rarely stopping, but enjoying the scenery. The rocks change from a white color to a green color as you climb the trail.  When we got to he top, we stopped and snapped a few pictures.  As we drove back down, you could smell a weird smell about half way through the ride.  We think it was a sulfur smell that maybe resembled onions, therefore it was called "Onion Creek."

After the ride, we headed out to our condo and stopped to eat at a Western Grill Restaurant. I ended up having a Navajo Taco that was pretty much tasteless.  We were hungry though, so it didn't stop me!  Later that night, Bryce and I went into town to get some souvenirs for the boys and ourselves.  We tried to watch a movie, but we were to exhausted so we all crashed for the night!

Moab Day #1

 On May 1st, we headed down to Moab with Marilyn, Roger, Luann, Sheridan, Nikki, Ira, Drifty, and Krista to spend a few days four wheeling.  It's been five years since Bryce and I have been down to Moab.  Anyway, Sheridan picked us up at about 10 a.m.. We were supposed to meet up with Roger and Marilyn but he had to go get some platelets at the hospital before he could leave town.  We ended up waiting for them just outside of Price.

We ate lunch at a Subway and then kept heading toward Moab.  By the time we got to our condo, I wanted to scream.  What should have taken us four hours to get to Moab, took us 7 hours.  I know most of it was waiting, but it was painful to spend all day traveling.  I had "had it" by the time we got there and I didn't want to do anything.  But, we ended up driving one hour back to Dead Horse Point.  It was beautiful scenery, and it ended up being fine.  I just needed to take a breath and change by outlook.

We walked around up at Dead Horse Point and took lots of pictures.  Its such a beautiful location and amazing how the water and winds shaped the landscapes.  As the sun started to set and it was near 8:00 pm, we decided to head to Moab's Diner to eat dinner.  By this time, I was started to get light headed and feel motion sickness from being in the car all the live long day! Needless to say, it was nice to hit the sac that night!